I laughed to myself knowing how fast Raeden's heart was pounding by the time I left him. And yes, he was just that obvious. All humans are actually; their heart rate changes whenever they feel a new emotion, and his was a little too unstable to ignore. I was contradicting myself for not taking his life, but the fact was that I wanted to toy with him a little more before I end things. He'll be fun while it lasts.
Taking the silent elevator to the second floor of my condominium, I cracked a smile remembering how Raeden seemed to be enjoying the proximity of my lips against his neck. He was breaking every rule a slayer had... Could it be true that he was one of the best? Making mistakes like that made me think he's just a regular kid with a tendency to threaten lives.
But he was no threat to me; I've already got that down. Now all I had to do was get to bed before the sun came up. The last time I stayed up past dawn, I ended up bleeding out all over my flooring. I'd have to get this kid out of my head for at least a couple hours, but I'll be sure to annoy him when night falls once more. I'm far from being through with him. His game is... entertaining to say the least.
And now that I've got his scent, he'll be much easier to find with his concentrated tension.
* * * *
I awoke from my massive king-sized bed and lay there under the covers until sleep decreased the weariness in my body. I pushed the comforter from me and turned out of bed in just my black underwear. When I was up and aware, I moved to the walk-in closet, worked out a pair of dark jeans, a sweater and a black trench coat stuffed at the back of my rack of clothing, and dressed for the night. After I had my hair tamed... except for the bothersome curl in my face, I scrubbed my teeth including my fangs. It was a good thing I didn't have to shave anymore.
My cell phone buzzed on the side table next to my sofa in the lounge area when I left the bathroom. Just when I took my cell in my hand, the iron guards blocking the sun during the daytime rose from each window, something I was grateful to have. If not, I'd have burnt to a crisp years ago.
"Hello?" I answer the phone call.
"Dominick Von Kraige, my good, good, good, good, good—."
"I get it, Nathaniel. What is it?"
Nathaniel's glee through the phone could make anyone wonder what he could be up to this early in the night. He went on, "You know what tonight is, don't you?" Not up for wasting my time guessing, I waited for him to spill the news. "It's Sovereign Kedrik's Bicentenary, you know what that means?" Again I waited for him to go on. "It's vampire night, meaning every immortal establishment will be freakin' wild as hell tonight. They're serving free blood shots down at Hex's V-Nish Bar, and I'm looking for a good time. Wanna come. Everything's free tonight?"
It would be a lot better than checking in with Demiesius. "Don't you think we're a little old for parties?" I said.
Nate huffed, "Oh, come on, if you look at it in years, of course we're old, but in appearance we're only twenty two. Get out, Dom; live a little."
"That's pretty hard when you're already dead."
"Are you gonna come or not? I can always ask someone else."
"Alright, you got me. When are we headed out? I'd like to get out of my place already. Let's say around... now?"
"Yup, I'll be over to pick you up in..." There was a knock at my front door, and when I opened the door, Nate was there to say, "... a second." He was dressed in white shorts that stopped mid-thigh and a frayed violet cropped shirt. He was the epitome of a twink if ever there was one. With his dyed blond hair styled back and long stockings stretched high out of his black boots, his pretty East Asian face smiled with a happiness he never failed to show. As my best mate, he was surely one of my favorite and most beloved people in the world.
"Let's go get wasted," I said, "They better have type O with their vodka. It may mess with our stomach, but it's easier to get drunk with something you actually want to chug."
Nate laughed and moved aside so I could lock the door. We headed down in the elevator, and all the while he persisted upon staring at me with those questioning light brown eyes of his. "What?" I finally exclaimed to get him to stop looking at me like that. "Is there something in my hair?"
He laughed aloud, "Do you have a girlfriend or something? I've known you for just about two hundred years, I think I of all people would know if something's up." He nudged me, "What's her name?"
Girlfriend? I haven't been in a relationship since the early 1500's, and in that time, in my village, it wasn't even counted as an authentic relationship. Our wives were handed to us with or without feeling. Never have I had a girlfriend. The word was just as silly as the topic. But to amuse my good friend, I said, "What makes you think it's a girl?"
Nate caught himself in the middle of a laugh, "Really, now? I know you've experimented in the past with guys, but seriously? Are you dating a boy? You've never given me a chance."
I couldn't help but laugh at his last statement. "Please, Nate, you're like a brother to me. I could never fuck you. But, as for the one I've got my eye on, we're not particularly anything at the moment. He's fun to toy with. His nerves are easily ticked by the mere sound of my voice. I'll have him soon though. His irritancy toward me is running exceedingly low."
Nate patted a hand on my shoulder as we stepped out of the elevator, and made our way to the entrance. "Who knows, Romeo, maybe you'll run into him at V-Nish. Then I could meet him."
Hex's V-Nish Bar was alive with the dead as usual whenever Sovereign Kedrik's Bicentenary comes around. It's always reminded me of an Electrocore rave gone wilder. There will be humans and there will be vampires. Humans just because of the fact that there's deafening music playing, strobe lights, and a party like none they could ever throw. There's one in every city at just about the same time.
Good thing it's the weekend, so there'll be more variety of people when my stomach begins to grumble.
The large double doors to the graphitized underground quarter were faintly lit by hanging chandeliers holding several candles while colored rays of lights flickered throughout the place. There was a sea of bodies both vampire and humans jumping around to the rhythmic techno music. Not really my style, but who says I came for the music?
"I'll meet you at the bar in a few minutes," Nate said, "I'm gonna go find a tall, dark and handsome redhead that'll do anything I say."
He disappeared into the crowd, while I strolled past vibrating bodies to the bar, evading the men and women that insisted upon rubbing up against me as I moved by them. When I finally made it to the bar, just for my known face, the bartender slid me a shot glass filled with what I was waiting for. A type O blood shot with a heavy dose of vodka. Now that hit the spot.
A woman approached me after my fifth one, fitted in a little red dress, and high heels to stab with, her strawberry blonde locks flowing down her back. She rested her hand on my thigh as she stood ahead of me, and said, "Would you mind telling me what a fine man like yourself is doing sitting all alone?"
I shifted in my seat taking her hand, looked over her manicure, and then set it back down where it was before. She smiled at me. "I'm really not all too sure," I smirked, which made her beam like she had me won over based solely on the way she was dressed. "Would you mind telling me what it is you came over here for?"
She leaned in close to whisper in my ear. "I'm a smart woman," she began, "I know all about this establishment; why it comes around every year. I used to belong to one of you. I was once a vassal who served under a great master. His name was..." she shrugged, "... I seem to have forgotten. But, I would love it if you did something for me, and I'll gladly do anything for you."
I pulled away from her mouth and looked her over. "What might that be?"
"Bite me."
That was easy.
I grabbed her hand and took one more bloodshot, the one that finally began to work its drunken wonders on me. She followed me as I led her out the back exit of V-Nish and shoved the heavy metal door open. The woman gave herself to me in less time than expected and pushed herself back on the wall, taking my hands and placed them on her curvy hips.
She tried to kiss me at first, but I wasn't all too sure about giving her the idea that I was interested in her like that, and cupped my hand over her mouth. I traveled my lips down to the side of her neck, hitting a spot upon her skin that made her squirm with fervor. She wanted me, but I just wanted what she had. B negative ran rapidly under her skin and it would be mine.
Drawing out my fangs, I sunk them inside the woman's neck, her spicy blood filling my throat as I swallowed her offering. The groans she released sounded of pain, but she would show none. "Again," she said, "Other side."
A raw sound of agony filled my ears from a distance, a rough scream before silence came after. I covered the woman's mouth again so her breaths wouldn't disturb my hearing, and when nothing came after, that sense overtook me when I reached out with my senses.
That tension was back.
An unbelievable smile crossed my lips, and I released the woman, heading for the opening of the alleyway toward the main street. "Where are you going?" she asked as I moved on. She satisfied one of my cravings. I was done with her.
I followed the feel of tension and stepped out of the alley to find none other than Raeden Dalton dusting himself off after what seemed to be a well fought kill. "You're looking ravishing tonight," I said leaning up against the brick faced wall.
Raeden looked up at me with astonishment after cleaning blood from the point of his treacherous stake, a pile of ash mounded at his feet. There was a light sign of sweat glistening on his forehead, his black hair swaying in front of his tired face from the gusts of wind that only seemed to make him more desirable. His small framed chest pumped air with receiving breaths, calming his heart rate to a normal pulse. A smile touched his face. "Well, I didn't think I'd see a guy like you at a place like this," he said, catching his regular breath.
"These are my people, why wouldn't I be here?" I ran my thumb along my mouth, licking up the excess blood from the woman. "Willing meals come from places like this too. Saves me work."
Raeden took out a thin bag from a pocket in his small backpack and slid his hand in a plastic glove. "I come here for the easy kills—."
"So that's a body you're picking up?"
He stood when he had all the ash in the bag and pressed it closed. "It sure was. The same one you let get away. Dumb broad thought she was off the hook just because of you. Now I got to touch these ashes to prove to my grandfather I actually got a kill tonight."
The talk of dead vampire ash was unnerving, but coming from him, since I really couldn't take him seriously, wasn't that bad. "You sound tired, why don't you come inside, and I'll fix you up with a couple of drinks. They serve killer shots, or whatever it is you humans would want." I caught an intoxicated burp, "Excuse me, I'm a little tipsy."
"A drunken vampire; that's hilarious. Has to be one thing I have to see before I die. Maybe you'll be so smashed come morning, you'll forget not to go outside and fall to pieces."
I thought about it for a moment, "Nah, I'm pretty good at keeping my alcohol down. It's you humans that need to work on that. Still, you might not know anything about drinking since you're only eighteen."
"How'd you know that?"
"I've got a record of you, Raeden, and since that was your last kill, I'm sure you'll have a record of me soon enough." I drew nearer to him, not surprised that he let me get so close. Just a step more and I'd be hovering over him. "But I want to know a little more about ... us."
Raeden examined the close proximity of my body to his, how close to him I was. "Us...?" he almost stuttered, "There is no, us."
"Oh, yes there is. You're standing right here in front of me. We've spoken not forty eight hours ago, and if I were mistaken, you were trembling in those sexy slayer clothes of yours every time I lifted a finger on you. Admit it, Raeden, you want to give yourself to me." I pushed him back on the wall, my hands wrapping his chest. I was so secure against him I could feel his legs touching mine.
Yet again, he was breaking a slayer's rule... willingly.
I lifted him without effort, the back of his shirt scraping the wall, and he snuggled his legs around me in a composed wrap. I set my hands under his bottom to support his light weight, and he touched my face, looking about my eyes as if in search of something. "You're going to get me in trouble," he said.
I suppressed a smile in winning him over this easily, but there was something about this slayer, something I needed more of. It was wrong on more levels than one to feel anything for a murderer to my people, but... there was something. "That's what secrets are for," I said, as he played with my hair, "If you're interested in taking a risk."
His lips brushed my cheek, "That's easy for you to say when you have nothing to lose."
"And who says I have nothing to lose? I'm the creation of one of the most notorious vampires to ever live. Five thousand years old and counting. I've got a lot to live up to."
His voice was a whisper in my hair. "Then why risk it... for me?"
I fixed him in my arms, the thrust bringing him more on me, the squeeze of his arms trapping my neck. "I'm not one to stop until I have what I want, and what I want... is you." He took my face in his hands, his prominent gray eyes sinking into mine. "Tell me the truth," I said, "Tell me what you're thinking."
He mapped out my jaw with his mouth, not yet planting a kiss. "How can you be so calm about this?" he spoke, his breath warming my lips. "If anyone outside ever found out about... us we'd be counted as traitors and likely killed. I can't risk myself along with my family's trust for... this."
"Let me tell you something, Raeden. I'm a vampire, meaning, I run my own life. I flirt with who I want, when I want, how I want, for as long as I want. Usually if I was after someone who didn't want anything to do with me, I'd seize your mind and make you a captive to my desires. But you're different... much different. I know this is wrong, but give me a chance, and you won't regret a thing."
Without answering my question, Raeden finally allowed himself to kiss me, an action I did not force him to do. He wanted what he wanted, and got it without me obliging upon it. He kissed me.
His kisses went from tender to rough, something that urged me on. His fingers ran through my hair as his tongue tasted mine.
I wanted him... I had him.
When a song played out from Raeden's ringtone, he wrestled out of my arms, the sensual moment fading with him. He went for his backpack lying on the floor and shuffled through the contents for his cellphone. "Yeah?" he answered away from me. "Okay, I'm done anyways... I'll be right there... Bye."
When he hung up he looked back at me, a troublesome feeling coming about. "I'm sorry, I have to go."
I nodded, "It's your life."
"Maybe you could... I don't know... call me?"
I smiled down at him, granting him one last kiss for the road before he gave me his phone number. "Goodnight, Raeden."